Life-saving appliance.



H. MACFARLANE @ANLE. ROGERS Patented Apr 11, 1916 LIFE SAVING APPLIANCEAPPLICATION FILED MAYG 1915 EN HECTQR jIl IQRillEiA ill IEZE R-IRIROGEBS, or Lennon; :ane

assxeno ts roqaonny n rnsavme arrmnncss 91,4 LIFIVII'IEAIX TQL FV LQNDONI ENG A Y useful Improvemen residing at 2 "Broadi street Place, London,England, have invented ;certain new and i 'fin' Life'fSa ving Appliy; ideclare the 'followancesyandwe (10 h IFE- AV NG APPLIANCE.

Specification of letters Patent. 5' Application filed May 6, 915. Seria1No.26,2 92.

of the King of Gieat Bi'itain and Ireland,

ing to be a f nll, clear; 'ekactpdescription of the inventionfsi'ich as"will enable others skilled inthefa-rtfto; which appertains to make andn'sethesaine.

This I invention a W i t ts;,"swimming appliances and the like. and hasfar itsobject to "provide a de- -vice which' is simple a fnd cheap ofconstrue,

tion andfeflicientf 'whichjcan be quickly secured upon a wearer and'WlllCll can be so adjusteditlnit; a: standard size of device can befused ages and Sizes; v a v The device in. be eonstructed upon theprinciple set forth. in British specification No. 13%75/1912 whereby a;person wearing the device 7 will automatically assume areal-- wardlyinclined pbsitioiilflice uppermost, with the head1 supported well abovethe water, andthe invention'fisalso applicable to that tvpeoffdeiescribed infITnited ,iforipersons of various I: i i v e v States PatentNo. 02 84 33, I

A device, accordin to 'the' presentfinvention comprisesa'f tcoatprovided with a number of, Duo van mpartmehts"'"around "ded with means y1 be contracted "me degree when JisKwher'eby the desired. In, additlower part ofq the tracted one or more V adjusting devices ina ;be 'p'tes 'toi life-saving back or at;othersiiitableiposition or'%pos i---tions on the device.

The accompanying way of example one j construction of device accordingtothe present invention.

Figure frontfvievv of the device secured in position'upon a wearer. F1g, 2 1s a correspond ng" haclrview. Fig.'"3 is a view of the insideofthe device; Fig.--4 is afsection X,"X*o'fFig.'1."T 1 a Referring tothe drawings, the body of drawings illustrate by i thedeviceis'provided' with three groups of buoyant compartments, two groupsa-a'n'd'b disposed 'on 'e'ach side of the front, and the thirdgroup'disposed at the back. The

Patented A r. 11,1916". a

groups a and I) may each consist of twoas "shown, or more compartmentsextendin vertlcally from the waist lin e'almosttdtthe shoulder, and athird or additional compart 11161113 is disposed at the side of the (leiV vtending from the waist line toa' po heath thearm holes (I. The-back gbuoyant compartments 0 comprises tivovpa rs of compartments the upperends of wh h are substantially in alinementwith th 7 perendsof' thelonger compartments posed in the groups a and b and the ,i .r endsof thecompartments care :disposed a a point half way hetwejenthe waist linebanthe lower part of the armliole s' (Z; i ranging thebottoins oftherein-"co ments 0 above the Waist'lineanda-b level of the bottomsofthefrontco ments a and b, the greater buoyancy {front of the waistcoatisassi'lred and personsupported inthe water reel gbackwardly. The upperends'of the B compartments in"the.groups a b and rounded as shown.Betweenrthe two v of compartments which composes the g on 0 there isatapering portionof the jac t having its VlidBl? end atthebottom jarmholes extend for some little dista "above the tops of the buoyant coinments; The buoyant compartments packed with abuoyant material suc kapokand preferably the amount of k packed into the groups (rand/Eta getheris greater thanf'the a-mountflpa e ihto the group A refei'encejtoFigshow how the buoyant compartment are, constructed the kapok beingiz elitirel closed by the. Woven material {of w device is'made, and thecomp'artment's nlg ing to an equal, degree upon-the insi theoutside ofthe deviceb In the construction shown in'th ,7 an adjustingo strap'f isshown -'h ends secured respectively to those co vmerits of thegroup-awhi'chTaredispose either sidefof the pa-rt'e; Referringparticularly to]? seen thatthflower partlg of he provided'with a. tape;cor 1 the; which may be nsecured tothe nsid deviceas "shownat-approximately it point andwhichis,adapted 10095-9 disposed at sutable he lower part ofthe mside ofi'th The twovend r loops -g .;.areduel as shown in order to facilitate a downward turn being given to theends of the tapes g. The device may be provided with pockets which. maybe externally disposed as shown at it" Fig. 1, and. which are preferablyadapted to fasten at the topby butto'n'fas tenings.

The deviceis adapted to be worn in the manner of a waistcoat as shown inFigs. 1 and 2 and it is provided with button fastenings 2' down thefront, and a standard size of device may be used by persons of varyingsizes by adjusting the strap f and the running cord or tape '9, thelatter serving in every case to prevent the device working upunpleasantly when in use, as it has a strong tendency to do, owing tothe great buoyancy of the compartments a, Z) and c. The tape g alsoserves to relieve the pressure from under the arms of the wearer so thatthe buoyant effort of the device -is applied to a considerable extentaround the Waist (if the person leaving the up er part of him andparticularly his arms, wit greater freedom than isusualwhen wearing alife-savin device. hat we claim and desire to secure Letters Patentis 1. A life saving appliance comprising a waistcoat provided .withbuoyant compart ments at its back and at the two sides of its front, thecompartments at the back being separated by a tapering portion extendingto the bottom of the garment and being widest at its bottom end andprovided with an adjusting device for contracting it, the bottoms of theback compartments being arranged above the'waist line of the garment andabove the bottoms of the front compartments to assure the greaterbuoyancy of the front of the garment.

2. A life saving appliance comprising a a waistcoat provided with threegroups of buoyant compartments one group disposed at each side of thefront and another group disposed. at the back, said back group beingdivided into two by a tapering portion having its wider end at vthebottom an adjusting strap being disposeda'cross said tapering portion,the front groups each comprising compartments which extend verticallyfrom the waist line almost to the shoulder,

and the back group comprising apnumbe'r of compartments which aredisposed above the waist line, and means whereby the lower part of thedevice may be contracted circumferentially to a suitable degree whendefrom the waist line almost to the shoulder,

and the back group comprising a number I of compartments which. aredizposed above the Waist line, provided with a exible member runningthrough loops disposed upon the lower portion of thedevice whereby thelower portion may be contracted circumferentially to a suitable degreewhen desired.

A. A life-saving appliance comprising a waistcoat provided with threegroups of buoyant compartments containing kapok, one group disposed ateach side of the front and another group "disposed at the back;

said back group being divided into two by.

a tapering portion having its wider end at the bottom an adjusting strapbeing 'disposed across said tapering portion, the'front" compartmentsgroups each comprising I which extend vertically from the waist l nealmost to the shoulder, and the back grou comprising a numberofcompartments whic are disposed above the waist line, provided with aflexible member running through loops disposed upon the lower portion ofthe device whereby the lower portion mayv be contractedcircumferentially to a suitable degree when desired:

In testimony whereof we afiix our'signatin-es, in presence of twowitnesses. 1

HECTOR MACFARLANE. NORMAN EVERARD ROGERS. Witnesses:

H. L. Kmo, G. V. SYMES.

